Three sentenced for trafficking prostitutes from Mexico

SACRAMENTO - Three men were sentenced Friday on criminal charges for trafficking women from Mexico to be used as prostitutes in five Northern California cities, including Stockton.

The Record

SACRAMENTO - Three men were sentenced Friday on criminal charges for trafficking women from Mexico to be used as prostitutes in five Northern California cities, including Stockton.

A multicounty FBI investigation into a human trafficking ring uncovered that women ages 21 to 30 were transported from Mexico and sold for sex to as many as 20 clients a day.

The FBI served search warrants in January at brothels in Chico, Stockton, Yuba City, Fairfield and Sacramento.

State special agents arrested five suspects on conspiracy and pimping charges.

Nery Najarro-Rodriguez, 42, Jorge Perez-Hernandez, 37, and Luis Mata, 30, pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit pimping and pandering and were sentenced to three years in county jail at Sacramento County Superior Court on Friday.

A fourth person, 42-year-old Adelaida Teran-Bravo, has been sentenced to six months in county jail.

And the fifth defendant, 32-year-old Garrido Fuentas, is currently awaiting trial in Butte County Superior Court.

"Human trafficking is a horrific crime that brutalizes millions of victims," said California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. "It is important that we investigate, prosecute and imprison those who force this kind of cruelty and depravity upon women. These sentences send a message that human traffickers will be prosecuted and punished."